Executive Secretary of Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has stated that the newly launched electronic cargo tracking system by Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 has been in existence for about 8 years.

According to him, the issue of tracking Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs) in the country has been there for a while now, hence, what Dr Bawumia commissioned three days ago was not new.

In a phone interview with GhanaWeb, Mr Amoah was of the view that “the devices are not anything new. These devices have been in the system for the past 5, 6, 7, even 8years. We’ve been tracking fuel across.”

Over the years, it was reported that Ghana loses about GH¢200 million per annum in the form of lost direct petroleum tax revenue to illegal operations regarding the transportation of fuel meant for export on the local market.

This challenge of smuggling and diversion of fuel can only be fixed if government employs people who are willing and dedicated to work effortlessly at the backend.

He advised that officials at the Ghana Revenue Authority scale up to restrict other fuels that get onto the market without going through the approved means.

However, the devices launched on Tuesday; digital Command and Control Centre for Bulk Road Vehicle (BRV) and Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) will be run by the National Petroleum Authority in collaboration with other key stakeholders in the petroleum downstream sector.

The purpose of the devices is to track the movement of all petroleum products moving in and outside the country to curb revenue losses as well as control the products on the market.

NPA’s Response

But responding to the claims by Mr Duncan Amoah, the NPA says the current systems with Enterprise Relational Database Management software makes sure tracks across the country are visually monitored and their movements marked and recorded, unlike the previous one where the only thing you see is that, the trucks go and the only information you get is that they have delivered the product.

“But with this command center which was a requirement of a 2016 LI, you needed a proper command center with software that is cost effective and can monitor the trucks in real time, a release from the communications department sent to www.ghanaweb read.”